ODU works to overcome uncharacteristically slow start

Dave Fairbank, dfairbank@dailypress.com | 757-247-4637

NORFOLK — The drill is called “Monster,” and for good reason. The team is split in two and lined up single-file, end to end, half facing one basket, half facing the other. The leader of each line has a ball.

When the whistle blows, each player in succession must jump and bounce the ball off the backboard, then sprint to the other end of the court and do likewise, in a continuous, grueling loop. If a ball hits the floor before the designated time, the drill stops and the players, already gassed, must do it again.

Three times at the end of practice Wednesday, Old Dominion’s players failed to complete the drill before a ball hit the floor. Fatigue and frustration bubbled over.

After the second failed drill, senior Nick Wright, one of the few upperclassmen on an exceptionally young team, loudly attempted to poke and inspire his teammates: “Come on, man! This isn’t basketball! This is running up and down the floor throwing the ball off the glass, and you want to win some games?!?! Come on, man!”

Failure to complete a tough but achievable task symbolized the Monarchs’ season thus far. ODU (1-8) is in the midst of an historically poor start as it prepares for Friday’s visit from Central Florida at the Constant Center at 7 p.m.

The Monarchs’ start is their worst as a Division I program. In fact, it’s the worst since the early 1940s, when the schedule was dotted with local service teams. Their present seven-game losing streak matches the longest since 2000-01, former coach Jeff Capel’s final season.

ODU’s start is all the more jarring, given its recent history. The Monarchs have averaged better than 24 wins per season in the past eight years, with four NCAA tournament appearances, an NIT final-four berth and three other postseason tournament berths.

“I think we’re getting a lot of people’s best shots,” 12th-year head coach Blaine Taylor said. “It seems that given our history of success, people take a lot of pride in having a chance to get at us. Even our players, they’ve been surprised at how celebratory the other team has been. They’re storming the court when they beat us. That’s a compliment, I guess, to the history of the program, but it doesn’t make our job any easier.”

After eight years of nearly seamless transitions under Taylor, the Monarchs are caught in an experience gap. Four of the Monarchs’ top eight in minutes are playing their first seasons at ODU. Three of those are freshmen, including Bethel High product Aaron Bacote.

That wasn’t the case in recent years. Taylor’s first exceptional team, which featured Alex Loughton, Isaiah Hunter and Drew Williamson, gave way to the Arnaud Dahi-Valdas Vasylius-Brandon Johnson teams, which then tutored the Gerald Lee-Frank Hassell-Ben Finney-Darius James teams, which gave way to the Kent Bazemore-Chris Cooper-Trian Iliadis group last season.

The upperclassmen on this year’s team — Wright, Donte Hill, Richard Ross, Anton Larsen and Dimitri Batten — have been role players unaccustomed to leading and, in some cases, starting. Even DeShawn Painter, though a senior, was a role player at N.C. State before transferring, and in many ways is just like the team’s other newcomers.

Taylor said there are similarities to when he first arrived at ODU. His first two teams won 25 games combined. Four of his recent teams won at least that many games in one season.“When I first got here, we were carving out the way to do things and how to do things and the work ethic and all that stuff,” he said. “Right now, with such a new group and such a challenging season, we’re back to carving out some of those same things.”

Youth and inexperience have been especially evident on defense. The Monarchs still rebound diligently (nearly plus-8), a Taylor calling card, but opponents are shooting 46.3 percent from the field — nearly six points higher than last year’s team allowed.

An ambitious non-conference schedule has put even more stress on the team and its defense, individually and collectively. Veteran point guards, wings and big men have feasted on the Monarchs. For example, VCU’s Troy Daniels hit eight 3-pointers. Richmond and its smart, veteran guards carved up ODU and handed the Monarchs their worst loss ever at the Ted. Murray State’s Isaiah Canaan got wherever he wanted to go and scored 30.

“What made it awkward, in a normal world in this transition time, we probably would have been a little softer with the schedule,” Taylor said. “It seems like we grabbed every good team from every league we could, to try to beef up the schedule a little bit because of our circumstances.”

The circumstances to which Taylor referred are the school’s final year in the CAA. As a lame-duck member, the Monarchs are ineligible for the conference tournament and accompanying NCAA berth. Therefore, he scheduled ambitiously in hopes of raising the profile for potential postseason consideration.

Now, the Monarchs simply are looking for win No. 2. Taylor is encouraged by the fact his teams nearly always improve from November to March. The conference gauntlet doesn’t look nearly as daunting as it did at Media Day.

“That league race still looms out there,” Taylor said. “It looks to me like it’s a pretty vulnerable thing. I would have thought there would be a couple of juggernauts out there by now, but so far it looks like it’s about anybody’s ballgame.”

The Monarchs on Wednesday finally completed a shortened version of “Monster” on their fourth attempt. Taylor gathered the team in a huddle near midcourt and offered a few words of encouragement before sending the players off toward final exams and the remainder of the day.

“This is not an easy spot to be in,” Taylor said. “I think there’s better times ahead, but sometimes you’ve got to live through the thin times to get to the good times, and we’re living through some thin times.”